Breaking Through
by chocolate13fire
Summary: Ginny Weasley is tired of being overshadowed and picked on by her older brothers. When her father buys her a muggle device, she meets someone who accepts her for who she is. GWDM.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everyone you recognize.

_Crack._

The sound of thunder echoed through the dark hallways of the Burrow, causing the various trinkets that filled the house to shudder slightly.

A second later, a bright flash filled the house with brilliant light before it immediately disappeared.

Ginny Weasley woke with a start.

Shivering from the pressing cold, she wrapped her comforter around her thin body more tightly before sitting up in bed and peering out her window.

"Wonderful," she muttered to herself. "Just my luck that it would bloody rain on my birthday."

Although it was still dark outside, Ginny could make out a thin ray of light peeking over the horizon.

After watching the sun rise from behind a mountain for thirty minutes, Ginny decided she may as well get up She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, only to hit them against her desk and fall to the floor.

"What a way to start the day."

Throwing on a dressing gown, Ginny glanced at her reflection and stopped to take in her form. At 5'8, Ginny's family and friends liked to refer to her height as "model tall." However, her comparison to models ended there. She had a decent figure, but it was hardly ever seen. One of the side effects of being a Weasley meant that her family could never afford new clothes for her. Thus, she was left to wear her brother's hand-me-downs. Since they were all a lot bigger than Ginny, the clothes gave the illusion of a bulkier form.

She studied her mop of unruly hair with a critical eye. It hung down her map in a mess of curls that was not necessarily flattering. She often pulled it back into a messy ponytail or plait to keep it under control. Like the rest of the Weasley family, her hair was bright red and was often compared to the color of a flame. She hated it. Every time she blushed (which was often), it looked as though her entire head was on fire.

As much as she hated everything else about her body, her eyes made up for it. They seemed to have a life of their own and were so full of colors: cinnamon and chocolate-brown swirls with small flecks of gold and green. People who looked into them felt an immediate flood of warmth curl through their bodies and found themselves trusting and opening up to her easily.

Sighing, Ginny turned away from the mirror.

"No point in bothering with anything today," she said to herself. "It's not as though anyone special will be here to see me."

Although she would never admit it, she was extremely disappointed that her family didn't insist on throwing her a birthday party. She knew that money was especially tight right now, what with her father's hours being cut at the Ministry, but that didn't stop her from being slightly resentful

'Just once, I'd like to have something special done for me,' she thought longingly.

With a slight shake of her head, she cleared those thoughts from her head. It was her 16th birthday, after all! Deciding she would do her best to stay positive, she skipped out into the hall and slid down the banister before hopping into the kitchen.

"Morning, all! Can anyone guess what today happens to b.." Ginny skidded to a halt mid-sentence. Sitting between Ron and George, was none other than Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Make-Ginny-Turn-Into-An-Incoherent-Babbling-Idiot.

"Er... I reckon today's Tuesday," Fred announced through a mouth full of pancakes.

He saw the look of horror on Ginny's face and, exchanging a look with George, snorted with laughter. Harry, noticing Fred and George's laughter, finally looked up to see a red-faced Ginny standing in total shock.

"Er... hey Gin," he managed with a straight face. "I, uh... really like your pajamas."

Ginny stiffened before glancing down and mentally cursing herself. Of course. Out of everything Ginny owned, she had to be wearing her most hideous blue and pink ducky pajamas.

"Goddess," she begged silently. "Please let me sink into the floor and die."

Everyone at the table erupted into gales of laughter.

"Ha ha... Hey Gin, I didn't know the circus was in town!" Ron choked.

"Yeah, with that red hair and crazy outfit, you could pass for a clown!" Fred gasped between chuckles.

Ginny felt tears prick her eyes as she stood there, thoroughly humiliated. It was bad enough that her brothers picked on her less than average appearance…but she didn't understand why they insisted on doing it in front of Harry, the object of her affections. Harry had always been very nice about it, but at the moment he was trying and failing to keep the grin off his face.

Finally coming to her senses, Ginny turned and tore up the stairs, trying desperately to keep her family from seeing the tears now spilling down her face and onto her hideously embarrassing pajamas.

"What d'ya reckon her problem is?" Ron asked through a mouthful of toast.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still not mine

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

_**BAM!**_

The bedroom door slammed with considerable strength, forcing the windows to shudder slightly at the impact. Ginny angrily stalked over to her bed and flopped onto her bed, ignoring that her disturbance sent her stuffed animal collection flying.

"Why do they always have to do that?" she thought furiously. "Just because I'm the youngest and only girl, doesn't give them the right to humiliate me like that."

After glaring at the ceiling for several minutes, Ginny heard a knock at her door.

"Great," she sighed. "Probably someone coming to call me back down to eat."

She managed to shuffle herself across the room to open the door, only to be surprised by the sight of her. Arthur, dressed in his ridiculous muggle suspenders ("Molly, can you believe that muggles actually go out in _public _with these on?"), was carrying what looked like a slim, silver box.

"Er... hello dad," Ginny said warily. "What's that you have there?" She had become very suspicious of muggle objects ever since her father asked her to help him set up a telephone. Needless to say, she now knew _why_ metal objects and electricity shouldn't be handled together.

"It's called a lagtog... er... at least I think that's what its called... Anyway, it's a machine that muggles use for all kinds of things. Very interesting, actually." Arthur replied, grinning broadly. "I managed to sneak one out from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts storage room, ran some spell tests, and it's as good as new!" He stood back, waiting to be thanked for his accomplishment.

"But dad... aren't you not supposed to take things out of that storage room?" Ginny asked carefully, not wanting a repeat of the nose-biting-tea-cup-incident.

"Well, technically it's against Ministry policy, but I managed to find a loophole..." Arthur said sheepishly. A sudden look of disappointment flashed across his face. "Don't you like it, Gin-bug?"

"Of course I like it!" Ginny exclaimed quickly. "It's very... shiny."

"Well, it does more than just shine! Why, you can do a million things on this lagtog! Did you know that those muggles invented something called the interweb where they can research every topic ever imagined, and even talk to people through it?" Arthur ranted on eagerly. "We don't give muggles enough credit, I say. Just look at the things they managed to come up with! And without magic, mind you!"

Ginny sat, staring at the silver box that her father called a lagtog, trying to figure out how muggles could research things through it. It certainly wasn't large enough to hold even one volume of notes for potions, let alone every subject imaginable. After awhile, Arthur seemed to get tired of lecturing on the glories of muggle inventions and started for the door.

"I'll just send Hermione up later to show you how to work it, alright Gin-Bug?" he said, then walked out of the door without waiting for an answer. Ginny could hear him whistling cheerfully as he headed down the stairs and couldn't help smile, despite the concerns she had for the slim silver box that was now resting on the foot of her bed.


End file.
